The Tainted (The Tainted Series Book 1) (17 page)

“I had to, I was starving! We don’t all have your talents. Man, it would have come in handy that day, that’s for sure. You done?” The boy pointed down at the half-eaten pastry sitting in Trysten’s lap.

“Yeah, it’s all yours.” He handed the pastry over to the boy, who immediately dove in.

Trysten stared off into the distance for a moment. “Jacob,” he said staring off, “do you ever think we should feel bad about what we do? You know, stealing from other people?”

“No way,” Jacob swallowed the last of the pastry. “We’d starve if we didn’t do it. Why should they have so much, and we have so little? We’re just leveling the playing field.”

Trysten looked at Jacob and smiled cheekily, “Of course you’d say that, your stomach’s always what’s most important.”

Jacob winked at his friend and wiped his hands on his dirty t-shirt. “Well, since you brought it up, I’ve actually got a new plan for us. Something that’ll get us off the streets for good.”

Trysten rolled his eyes and started to stand up, “Another one of your get-rich-quick schemes.”

Jacob grabbed onto Trysten, attempting to pull him back down, “At least listen to me. This one’s different, I promise. I’ve got it all figured out.”

“I’ve already told you, I don’t want to steal money from people, it’s not right. We do what we do to get by.”

“But I don’t want to just get by,” Jacob’s face fell as he stared up at his friend. “I don’t want to live the rest of my life on the street. I’m bigger than this,
we’re
bigger than this--especially you with your talent. Just hear me out, please?”

Trysten sighed heavily, but he nodded and rested back against the tree.

“Good,” Jacob’s face lit up immediately. “So, yes, technically we’d be stealing money. But this time, we’d be stealing from the bad guys, like Robin Hood. Steal from the rich to give to the poor--us!”

“The bad guys?”

“Yeah. You know the men who always stand out on the corner over there, dealing drugs?” Trysten nodded. “Well, while you were taking some bread the other day, I overheard them talking about a deal they were doing tonight. They’re getting a new shipment of drugs in and someone’s gonna come to make the exchange, meaning they’ll have a whole bunch of cash stashed in their office on the corner there. Now, if we were to just walk in and take it, we’d not only be helping ourselves, but we’d be stopping drugs from getting on the streets. We’d be like heroes.”

Trysten raised an eyebrow at Jacob, “By
we
, I suppose you mean you want
me
to walk in there and take it.”

“Well, I’d love to join you my friend, but I wasn’t blessed with a talent like yours. You’d be in and out in no time, I promise.”

Trysten fell silent, looking down at his hands in his lap.

“We could get out of here, for good. You’re the only family I’ve ever known, Trysten. I want us to make it off the streets--together.”

Trysten was silent for a moment longer, still staring into his lap, breathing deeply. Finally, he lifted his head up and nodded at his friend, “I’ll do it, but we need to make sure we know what we’re doing before we try this.”

Jacob jumped forward and hugged Trysten, bowling him over and onto the ground. “I knew you’d do it! We’re gonna be rich, Trysten! Rich!”

Rebecca’s eyes had to adjust to the sudden darkness as, once again, her surroundings instantly changed. She was still in the park, but she was back by the playground, and it appeared to be late at night. The whole square was still and dark, with only one working streetlight at the far corner. There wasn’t a soul in sight, nor could a single sound be heard. It felt almost too quiet.

Even though she knew it was only a memory, Rebecca began to walk forward cautiously, a slight panic spreading through her, making her heart pound. Something didn’t feel right.

Rebecca threw herself against the side of the large structure in the middle of the playground. She could hear several sets of pounding footsteps racing towards her. They stopped abruptly and she heard someone smack down hard onto the pavement, yelping from the impact.

“Jacob, are you alright?”

It was Trysten’s voice. Rebecca swung around the side of the jungle gym and saw Jacob curled up on the ground grabbing onto his leg, seemingly alone.

“It’s my ankle,” he said, in obvious pain. “Something’s really wrong.”

“You need to stand up. We have to keep running.” Trysten’s voice was flooded with panic, “They’re coming after us.”

Jacob scanned the spot where his friend should have been standing, an unmistakable fear in his eyes, “I don’t think I can run. I don’t even know if I can stand.”

One of Jacob’s arms was suddenly lifted and thrown around what Rebecca knew was an invisible Trysten, who then began pulling his friend up.

Jacob tried to put weight on his injured leg, but nearly collapsed as soon as he did. “I can’t, Trysten. I can’t walk, let alone run.”

“I would make you invisible if I could, but you know I can’t, and I’m not leaving you behind. Now tough it out, we need to get to safety.”

All of a sudden, a loud bang rang out in the night, and Jacob’s form immediately crumpled back down onto the pavement.

“I got him!” A loud voice called out and a large man ran forward.

Rebecca stared in shock at Jacob’s lifeless body sprawled across the ground, his blood slowly turning the surrounding pavement a crimson red.

“He’s definitely dead, but there’s no money here.”

“There must have been another one,” a second voice called from out on the street. “Come on, help me find the bastard.”

The large man took a final look at Jacob and then ran off after his companion.

As their footsteps slowly disappeared into the distance, the square returned to an eerie silence. Although Rebecca hadn’t realized it, her hands had flown up over her mouth, where she now held them, stuck in a state of utter shock.

Rebecca went to step forward, but stopped when Trysten’s form suddenly materialized. He was hunched over his friend, one hand pressed desperately onto the wound, and the other shaking Jacob’s shoulders.

“Wake up, wake up,” he pleaded between sobs. “Please wake up.”

Jacob’s blood soaked into the sleeves of Trysten’s shirt and continued to spill out onto the pavement around them, though Trysten barely seemed to notice.

“Please,” he whispered down to his friend, his whole body shaking and his tears falling unabated. “Please…”

Without warning, the world around Rebecca began shaking violently. She stumbled and desperately reached out for something to grab onto, but it was to no avail. Unable to stop herself, she fell backwards, slamming her head into the ground.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself back in the garden, lying flat-out on the path in freezing darkness. Her head was spinning, and her vision took far longer than usual to come back into focus. In fact, it felt as if her brain was struggling to adjust to being back inside her own head.

When she was finally able to pull herself together, she sat up and found Trysten sitting a few feet away. He was looking down at himself, frantically searching his clothes and his body. As soon as he realized Rebecca had sat up, he looked over at her, his face a mixture of intense fear and anger.

“You were inside my head, inside my thoughts. You saw my memories, made me relive them…You saw Jacob…his blood, it was everywhere…all over me…It felt like it was happening all over again…”

Rebecca started to move toward Trysten, but he flinched away. “You had no right to do that! You had no right to see those things!” He stood up swiftly, glaring down at her, his eyes filled with pure hatred, “I trusted you…”

Rebecca’s heart sank and she again moved to stand up and get closer to him, desperate to explain. But Trysten instantly vanished--leaving her alone in the dark, silent garden.

For a long time, Rebecca sat in the garden--stuck in a state of shock. She felt goosebumps rise up all over her flesh, saw her swirling white breaths. She knew she was shivering violently, but, truthfully, she felt too sick to care how cold she was. At first, she’d only felt regret, wishing she’d had a chance to apologize, to explain everything to Trysten. Then, fear took over, chilling her more than any outside temperature could. She was scared that Trysten would tell, and frightened of what the others would think of her when he did.

Above all, however, she was terrified of herself, of what she’d done. She hadn’t meant to do it. In fact, she didn’t understand why or how she’d been able to do it. It was as if she’d lost control of herself, of her ability. The past few weeks of peacefulness, of finally feeling as if she had a handle on her dreams, on her gift, had disappeared. She felt her fear and hatred of her ability flood back into her, stronger than ever.

Rebecca stared down at her shaking hands, which rested in her lap. She felt sick to her stomach and weak, like every ounce of strength had been stolen from her. Something was wrong with her, she knew it. Her ability wasn’t a gift, it was a curse, and she hated it more than anything in the world.

Rebecca took a deep, wavering breath, trying to calm her wildly beating heart, and clenched her hands into tight fists. Using what strength she could muster, she stood up, doing her best to remain steady. She needed to talk to Maverick. If any of the crew was going to understand this and help her, it was him. She would confess to everything that had happened, apologize, and then demand that he tell her the truth about what she was. It wasn’t strength driving her to action, it was panic. She needed answers from Maverick. He’d been hiding something from her. She’d known it for a while now and, whatever it was, she deserved the truth. If he knew something, anything that could help her or explain what was going on, then she was going to find out.

Determined, Rebecca headed into the house and straight up to Maverick’s office. She was grateful that she didn’t run into any of the crew as she made her way through the corridor, but she couldn’t help noticing the eerie silence. She made a swift turn at the top of the stairs, and was about to push right into Maverick’s office, when she heard loud voices coming from the other side of the slightly ajar door. She stopped abruptly when she heard Etain yell at Maverick.

“You told me she had dreams, that’s all! I should’ve known what she was after what happened at the safe house. I just didn’t want to believe that
she’d
done that to the Aillil. Now there’s no denying it!”

“Etain, calm down, she’s…”

“Don’t tell me to calm down. I’ve heard stories of what they could do. She doesn’t even know, does she? I bet you haven’t even told her, have you?”

“There hasn’t been one like her for centuries, and she’s only half Aillil, she may be different.”

“But you don’t know that for sure. She’s dangerous Maverick, to all of us, let alone herself. She’s unstable and I can’t let her be around the others. It’s not safe.”

A sudden wave of sickness hit Rebecca, and she grasped onto the doorframe in an effort to remain standing. Her breath caught in her throat and her heart pounded so loudly that it nearly drowned out their voices. What
was
she? What could be so wrong with her that she was such a danger to the crew?

Rebecca was just about to burst in and demand to know what was going on when Maverick’s voice stopped her.

“She can’t leave, we need her.” His voice was firm and, from the sound of it, he’d just pushed his chair back and stood up from his desk.

“Need her? What in the world are you talking about?” Etain countered.

“We need her ability. She’s the only one who can get us what we want.”

“What
we
want? Would you care to inform me exactly what it is that
we
want?”

“To go home. To find our families.”

“What?”

“Her dreams. She can use them to find the Aillil, to show us where their kingdom is. She can help everyone find their parents.”

Etain was silent for a moment, “Are…are you sure?”

“Yes. Once we’ve trained her to control herself, she’ll be able to do it, without a doubt.”

“So that’s why you wanted her to join us? You’re just using her?”

If Rebecca hadn’t felt sick before, she certainly did now. She stumbled away from the door, crashing into the wall behind her. Her world was spinning, as if the ground had been pulled right out from beneath her feet. She lurched forward in a dry heave, collapsing onto her hands and knees, her shock stealing her breath straight from her lungs.

It had been fake, all of it. Maverick had never felt anything for her, he’d never cared for her. He’d only used her, taken her away from everything and everyone she loved, just so he could get what he wanted. Now she was here, stuck with people who were terrified of her, or who had lied to her, locked up in a place she loathed.

Rebecca’s hatred suddenly boiled over, filling her body with a rage she’d never felt before. In an abrupt burst, she sprung up from the floor and started sprinting. Without hesitation, she ran downstairs, through the corridor, and out into the garden.

She was no longer thinking clearly. All she knew was that she needed to get as far away from this place, and these people, as quickly as possible. She never slowed, never looked back. She just continued running, deep into the forest, further than she’d ever gone before. Her legs were shaking and her lungs were burning, but still she pushed on.

Finally, when it felt as if her legs were going to buckle beneath her, Rebecca began to slow. As if coming from a chimneystack, white haze billowed from her mouth after each panting breath. In the chilly night air, the sweat on her skin froze quickly and shivers overtook her body, but she gave no notice. She still felt hollow, completely empty on the inside. All her life, she’d fought hard to never let anyone in, to keep herself guarded and protected, specifically for this reason. Maverick had played her. He’d used her and she’d allowed him to do it. How could she have been so naïve?

Rebecca was just about to sit down on the frozen ground when she heard a rustle off in the distance. It had only been a small one, but it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.